It's Not Too Late to Take a Stand
by jiapryor
Summary: JONAS; Nick doesn't believe in global warming. To him, it's all some hoax that people conjured. Can Joe, a boy Nick views as a misfit, change Nick's perspective on how serious global warming can be for the earth?


**Okay, so this is going to be very cliche and corny and such because it was done my freshman year of highschool. We were working on our global warming unit, and me, being the enthusiastic fanfiction author and lazy project maker person, chose to write a story involving Nicholas and Joseph of the Jonas Brothers :) **

**SO! My dear readers, I hope that you enjoy it. Nick's character is very wealthy, and Joe isn't, even though they live in the same vicinity. But hey, California is California, and I've never been there. **

* * *

**So now it's about the earth?  
****When has it ever been?**

The seventeen year old boy glanced at the clock, its hands moving in sync with the thudding of his heart. _Tick. __**Thump**__. Tock. _Its thunderous chime resonated throughout the house, signaling midnight had struck while at the same time, the waves crashed down on the beach. He ran a calloused hand through his mop of unkempt curls atop his head, sighing contentedly. His curls were matted to his forehead from the perspiration _and_ the heat extremity combined. He reclined himself back onto his mattress and positioned his hands to rest on his stomach, scooting his covers to the foot of his bed. Before his eyes fluttered closed, he stole a quick glance at the acoustic guitar with the broken strings, lying in the corner of his room.

"Joe," he greeted parents forcing him to befriend this misfit along with the intense high temperature (as hot as it gets in Eureka [record—sixty-three degrees in September]) didn't exactly put him in the best of moods. Nick padded over on the sand quickly, with his Ralph Lauren white loafers covering his feet.

"Nick," the boy with the black shag of hair said nonchalantly. His deep brown orbs held a glint of mischief to them, keeping Nick wary. Joe bent down and lowered himself on the sand surrounding the house while Nick abruptly stood up from his relaxed position in the lawn chair.

"I think we should go in back where this can be more…" he paused as he contemplated of a word to use, "…confidential for us."

"Ah," Joe mused, "embarrassed to be seen around me, are you?"

Nick resisted a snort. "Of course not," he fired back, "I just don't want people to interfere with our business, and, there's shade in the back of the house on the deck. I'll have someone get us something to drink. Does that sound worthwhile?"

"Business?" Joe repeated questioningly as he scanned the surrounding houses for signs of movement, ignoring Nick's bribe. "I don't see anybody out. I wouldn't mind if we remained out front. The question is, do you?"

Nick's answer was to grudgingly throw himself into his lawn chair, but the chair tipped backwards, threatening to send Nick with it. Quickly, he regained control of the chair and prevented it from falling over.

"Whoa there, cowboy!" Joe commented offhandedly, his mouth slowly stretching itself into a slight smirk.

Nick merely grunted in response, yearning for the afternoon to pass as quickly as this day had arrived. "I don't believe in all that cowboy stuff. Men wearing boots, riding horses, killing each other with guns, and saying _'y'all'_," Nick imitated rather horribly, "does _not_ seem worthy of all of the fame it's gotten over the years."

Joe stood up, wiping the heated sand off the bottom of his buttocks. "Cowboys do exist, and _it was in them there desert days where grass ain't be 'an existed." _Nick scowled and stood up as well, immersing himself in attempting to bury his foot in sand. "Did you like that, Nicholas? That was my best attempt. Wanna hear more?"

Nick, remaining silent, began to walk in the direction of the back of his house.

"'Kay then. Here we go. _I'm gonna kill you… with my gun, and then I'm gonna put you in my trunk of my car and drag you to the desert…. And then—and then I'll bring you back home, and I'll make sure you're okay…'cause I'll feed you some of my famous…_ I don't know from there."

"_**That's**_ not weird at all, huh? And what the heck was that supposed to be?"

"Have you ever heard of global warming?" Joe inquired casually and rather randomly.

"Who hasn't?" Nick retorted rather rudely as he fingered his curls. The sun beat down on him, making his perspiration bead on the nape of his neck. "It's all over the news. Everywhere I turn there are these pointless flyers advertising how we should cut back on everything to save the planet. They're contradicting themselves, the hypocrites. How can they rant to us, telling us to stop doing what we're doing when the paper they use to put up those very flyers that killed trees? People are constantly worrying about things that just are not going to happen." Nick stressed the last few words for emphasis on his point.

"It's called recycling, Nicholas," Joe replied simply.

"My name is Nick, _Joseph Adam_," Nick sneered.

Much to his dismay, Joe continued, not seeming affected by Nick's retort. "Well, I just saw this movie about it and it wasn't too niffy."

"_Niffy_? Don't you mean _nifty_?"

"No, I meant niffy. And I still do."

Nick clicked his tounge annoyingly. "Well, then…" he led off as the tide washed up further than he anticipated. He quickly retracted his foot back before the rubble-filled ocean water could soil his shoe. "I think global warming is something that people make up just for the sake of needing something to whine about. It's worse than all of the Life Time Movies and soaps that my mother watches…daily." Nick cringed slightly at the vision of his mother, her eyes glued to the television, watching some over-dramatic dialogue and gruesome acting.

"…so living on the coast of Eureka, California doesn't even bring about some—_just a little_—skepticism that global warming isn't something? You realize you could be flooded, right? Warmer waters are going to bring about hurricanes. Do you want Hogey the Hurricane to come bursting through here?"

"But not from global warming," Nick countered. "The globe does not get _warm_. There are too many seasons, and the weather doesn't really fluctuate, so how is a minor—what?—two, three degree temperature change going to flood the coast of California?"

"Oh really, because I hear that a minor—what?—two, three degree change can cause ice caps to melt. The climate here's about fifty-two point seven degrees… I think, and that's just the average. If global warming does happen—which will take a lot, and I mean _a lot_, it will up the climate by two or three degrees. Do you realize how _hard_ that is to do?"

"So you're the walking almanac of Eureka, I assume?" Nick scoffed skeptically. "And no, I don't realize how hard that is to do because all of this global warming talk is a hoax."

Joe shook his head solemnly, fiddling with the handles of his dark framed glasses. "You're going to regret thinking this way, dude. Seriously, this is something you should be concerned about. People like you don't see the danger. You're still driving around polluting the air, and diminishing trees into stumps. People like _you_ are going to murder earth."

Nick, taken aback at how passionately Joe spoke about the topic, shook his head dismissively in an attempt to hide his shock. "Tree hugger," he murmured under his breath. Nick now just took notice that he and Joe had reached the "back yard" of he and his parent's beach house, and were now just milling around throughout the sand—and the debris that was hidden underneath it. All signs of pollution—cups, bottles, discarded items littered the beach. The water was murky and barely translucent; it no longer glistened in the sun. Instead, the water was hotter than normal, and the tides came closer to the beach. "This global warming thing—when is it supposed to happen?" Nick spoke up.

"It's happening now," Joe said lightly, slightly happy that Nick had taken at least _some_ interest in global warming, "The earth is in the process of experiencing global warming. Rain forests are dying from lack of water, rivers are completely dried out, and small islands are being submerged from the increase in the water level."

"So where did you get all of this…information?"

Joe shrugged nonchalantly. "Youtube. News. Google. I have my sources." He smiled wide, exposing his straight, white teeth.

Nick grazed his tongue over his own teeth, which were slightly crooked and not as white as Joe's. _Maybe this misfit isn't so…misfit_, Nick confided to himself. "…keep going," he urged Joe on, wanting, yet not wanting to know more about it.

"If global warming completes itself, do you realize how many organisms would suffer…die?" Joe question rhetorically, "Polar bears are already on the verge of becoming extinct; they're so unhealthy now." Joe's eyes locked with Nick's, and Joe was able to tell, by the look in Nick's eyes, that Nick's perspective on global warming was altering gradually. Joe continued on, wanting to completely change Nick's perception. "The future world—our world—will die. Listen to it this way. Animals die? We all become vegetarians. Plants die? Either we starve to death or become cannibals. I'm leaning towards the latter." Joe chuckled slightly, attempting to bring slight humor in the situation.

"Ha. Not funny, Joe. Is this all some joke or something?" Nick questioned critically.

"I'm not trying to lie to you, or turn you into this hippie," Joe stated, using air quotes to emphasize hippie, "but you have to believe me. The earth is still in the process of going into global warming. I think if we change our ways now—and I mean _drastically_—then we could still have a chance at survival. We still have time, quite a few years, to reverse everything. I mean, it wouldn't kill you to stop driving that Mustang of yours and trade it in for a Hybrid, will it? You don't need to constantly use all of this fancy silverware. Try using paper products that have been recycled. Start using plastic forks and knives that have been previously recycled. These are subtle changes that can put the world out of the way of danger."

Nick stared at Joe for a while. Joe remained silent, holding his gaze strong with Nick's. Abruptly, Nick nodded his head slothfully, a slight smirk etched onto his face. "I think I can do that, and get my friends and family to start doing that as well."

"Good," Joe said simply, beginning to walk off.

"Wait!" Nick exclaimed, unsure of why Joe was leaving. "Where are you headed?"

"Uhh, home?" Joe answered quizzically.

"Why?" Nick continued to ask, not wanting his new, educated friend to leave him.

Joe grinned. "I'm thirsty. You never got me that drink. I was waiting for it to be all the worthwhile."

Nick beamed in return, remembering the beginning of their meeting. "Come on inside. I think I have some foam cups to drink out of."

Joe gaped. "You do realize that styrofoam is much harder to break down than paper, right?"

"Relax," Nick told Joe, laughing slightly. "I know. I just said that to keep you on your toes."

"_Ha. Not funny, Nick. Is this all some joke or something?" _Joe asked, imitating Nick.

"Tree hugger," the curly haired seventeen year old said aloud.

Joe merely laughed heartily and followed Nick into his home.  
_  
So come with me and seize the day  
This world may never be the same_

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_**Would you care to review? Please? It totally makes my day :)**_


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